My fun fact: I love seasons!!! And right along with that, seasonal things that fall into the categories of cooking, baking, and fun activities. This summer my son, Miles, is 15 months old and it is really the first time we are venturing into this whole world of hands on playtime. This seashell activity ranges from entirely free to $10 and it teaches a variety of skills like counting, shape sorting, colors, patterns, and more! I bought one container of seashells and used a random tray we had around the house to keep them contained. The link to the shells is at the end of this post. This was a supervised activity as there are small shells and pieces could break off. It also has been a good one to keep him playing at my feet while I get things going for dinner.
So here's how it worked for us:
Grab a tray and your container of seashells.
- I took a handful of shells out of the container and let Miles examine them. I left the container on the tray so he could take a look at those too, if desired. As it was the first time he ever even saw a seashell I did not want to just dump out the entire container. It is less overwhelming to lay out just a few.
- Next I poured out the rest of the container. We talked about how they looked: spotted, blue, swirly, striped, etc. We organized them in different ways.
- You can also count them, separate them by shape, length, pattern, color. Make piles of similar shells and ask where the next one goes.
- Ask which one is the one favorite and why.
- Make a beautiful design/mosaic, use them to design a circle.
- Put them in order of largest to smallest.
Other options: I did not include any water in our playtime but if your tray holds it, you totally could! You could use a muffin tin to sort them. Miles ended up putting them all away into the container and twisting the lid! He came up with it on his own through playing. Love that.
This was an awesome way to play on theme with these sunshine-summer days! Here is the link to the Amazon seashells! I chose this mix because they are so pretty and seemed to have the most varied types included for a good price. In a world where engaged learning often means more complex, digital, and expensive, activities like this are a wonderful way for me to be alongside Miles as he learns. Each and every time he plays with the shells it is a different experience as he learns more and more. Have fun!
wishing you joy on your journey,
kristen
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